1 John 3:13

If the world hate you— By the world, understand the unbelieving Jews and Gentiles. See ch. 1 John 5:19. The world is here set in opposition to the Christian brethren. This verse contains an inference from what had been said in that preceding; "There has all along been enmity between the seed of the woman, and the seed of the serpent; or, bad men have envied, hated, and persecuted the good from the beginning:" therefore the Christians to whom St. John wrote, were notto be surprized at it, as a thing new and unusual, if the world hated them: the more the world hates them, the more should Christians unite and love one another.